Family's Holocaust experience brought to life with daughter's book

Gene Klein poses for a photo with his daughter, Dr. Jill Gabrielle Klein, who is the author of the book "We Got The Water, Tracing My Family's Path Through Auschwitz," at Klein's home in The Villages, Fla. on Tuesday, June 4, 2013. In the book, Dr. Klein tells how her father, his two sisters and their mother survived the Holocaust and pays tribute to Gene’s father, Herman, who died in a Nazi gas chamber.

Star-Banner Photo/Bruce Ackerman

By Gary GreenCorrespondent

Published: Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 10:11 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 10:11 p.m.

Gene Klein is as amiable and good humored a person as you could ever meet. At 85, the soft spoken resident of The Villages is quietly dashing, with kind eyes that flash with mischief. Quick with a joke, it seems he can't help but snatch as much fun as possible out of almost any moment.

Klein's explanation for this attraction to humor is a sobering one: he traces it to his experience as a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Klein often speaks about his experience with area high school and elementary school students who are learning about the Holocaust, his personal testimony providing a more intimate look at the tragedy than pages in a history book.

“Someone always asks what were the five things you missed most,” Klein said. “I start with the basics: family, food, a shower, freedom — and the fifth is laughter. Imagine not smiling once for over a year; there was nothing to laugh about.”

He and his daughter, Dr. Jill Klein, a social psychologist who teaches at the University of Melbourne in Australia, have traveled the world giving seminars to businesses about resilience and how to rise to the challenges of an adverse situation. She also has written a book about her family's experience in the Holocaust.

“We Got the Water: Tracing My Family's Path Through Auschwitz,” is filled with detail and insight gathered over 15 years of interviewing family members and putting pieces of the puzzle together, from Gene's childhood in Czechoslovakia to the struggle in the concentration camp to the triumph of a fulfilling life in America.

Gene Klein recounts the steps, starting in 1944, when their town in Czechoslovakia was ceded to Hungary.

“First came the anti-semitism, then the yellow stars. Finally, we were rounded up and sent to the brickyard (where cattle cars took them to Auschwitz),” he said.

The family consisted of Gene, whose nickname was “Gati,” his sisters Lily and Oli, his father Herman and mother Bertha. The last time then-16-year-old Gene saw his father was when they arrived at the camp. Gene went to the right, bound for the work camp and the slow starvation for most who went there. Herman was sent to the left, to the gas chamber and death.

Lily and Oli kept diaries while imprisoned and Lily's are on display at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The title of the book, available at www.amazon.com, is from one of Lily's memories, according to a publicity release: “Then we went into the showers, and we were the lucky ones. We got the water. Millions of others got the gas, but we knew nothing about that then.”

Gene, his sisters and mother were all later reunited.

“To me that's the saddest part of the story, that my father died and never knew what happened to us,” Gene Klein said.

For Jill, Herman's final walk was the most haunting part of the story and throughout the book she pieces together what that must have been like.

“I hate that he was alone, that he must have thought the same thing must be happening to his family,” she said.

Herman's children all married and had families. Gene, sponsored by an uncle in Scranton, Pa., came to the United States and studied sign painting and calligraphy and had a long career as a display decorator for Sears in Miami. He and his wife Barbara had two daughters, and now have three grandchildren.

Jill Klein said writing the book was a way for her to “be with” her grandfather and tell him of the good things that came to his family.

“Herman need no longer make his walk alone,” she said. “I can be with him, I can hold his hand.”

“That's my favorite part of the story,” said Gene Klein, at home surrounded by Jill, Barbara and the family dog.

“It gets me, you know?” he said, smiling and placing his hand on his heart.

<p>Gene Klein is as amiable and good humored a person as you could ever meet. At 85, the soft spoken resident of The Villages is quietly dashing, with kind eyes that flash with mischief. Quick with a joke, it seems he can't help but snatch as much fun as possible out of almost any moment.</p><p>Klein's explanation for this attraction to humor is a sobering one: he traces it to his experience as a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. </p><p>Klein often speaks about his experience with area high school and elementary school students who are learning about the Holocaust, his personal testimony providing a more intimate look at the tragedy than pages in a history book.</p><p>“Someone always asks what were the five things you missed most,” Klein said. “I start with the basics: family, food, a shower, freedom — and the fifth is laughter. Imagine not smiling once for over a year; there was nothing to laugh about.”</p><p>He and his daughter, Dr. Jill Klein, a social psychologist who teaches at the University of Melbourne in Australia, have traveled the world giving seminars to businesses about resilience and how to rise to the challenges of an adverse situation. She also has written a book about her family's experience in the Holocaust.</p><p>“We Got the Water: Tracing My Family's Path Through Auschwitz,” is filled with detail and insight gathered over 15 years of interviewing family members and putting pieces of the puzzle together, from Gene's childhood in Czechoslovakia to the struggle in the concentration camp to the triumph of a fulfilling life in America.</p><p>Gene Klein recounts the steps, starting in 1944, when their town in Czechoslovakia was ceded to Hungary.</p><p>“First came the anti-semitism, then the yellow stars. Finally, we were rounded up and sent to the brickyard (where cattle cars took them to Auschwitz),” he said.</p><p>The family consisted of Gene, whose nickname was “Gati,” his sisters Lily and Oli, his father Herman and mother Bertha. The last time then-16-year-old Gene saw his father was when they arrived at the camp. Gene went to the right, bound for the work camp and the slow starvation for most who went there. Herman was sent to the left, to the gas chamber and death.</p><p>Lily and Oli kept diaries while imprisoned and Lily's are on display at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The title of the book, available at www.amazon.com, is from one of Lily's memories, according to a publicity release: “Then we went into the showers, and we were the lucky ones. We got the water. Millions of others got the gas, but we knew nothing about that then.”</p><p>Gene, his sisters and mother were all later reunited.</p><p>“To me that's the saddest part of the story, that my father died and never knew what happened to us,” Gene Klein said.</p><p>For Jill, Herman's final walk was the most haunting part of the story and throughout the book she pieces together what that must have been like. </p><p>“I hate that he was alone, that he must have thought the same thing must be happening to his family,” she said.</p><p>Herman's children all married and had families. Gene, sponsored by an uncle in Scranton, Pa., came to the United States and studied sign painting and calligraphy and had a long career as a display decorator for Sears in Miami. He and his wife Barbara had two daughters, and now have three grandchildren. </p><p>Jill Klein said writing the book was a way for her to “be with” her grandfather and tell him of the good things that came to his family. </p><p>“Herman need no longer make his walk alone,” she said. “I can be with him, I can hold his hand.” </p><p>“That's my favorite part of the story,” said Gene Klein, at home surrounded by Jill, Barbara and the family dog.</p><p>“It gets me, you know?” he said, smiling and placing his hand on his heart.</p>